Safety link for pneumatic nailers

ABSTRACT

A pneumatic nailer includes a barrel with a nose portion connected to a front end thereof and a magazine is connected to the barrel so as to feed nails into the nose portion. A handle is connected to the barrel and a valve is received in the handle. The valve has a movable shaft which is in contact with a trigger and biased by a first spring. A safety link is movably connected to the barrel and located parallel to the nose portion. The safety link has a front end located shorter than the nose portion and a rear end of the safety link is pivotably connected to a first end of the trigger. The first end of the trigger is movable toward the nose portion relative to the movable shaft. A second spring biases the safety link in a direction that the safety link linearly moves. The front end of the safety link is shorter than the nose portion so that the user aims the object without interruption by the safety link.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a safety link for a pneumatic nailer wherein the front end of the safety link does not protrude from the nose portion of the nailer so that the user can aim the nail precisely.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A conventional pneumatic nailer is disclosed in FIGS. 1 to 3, and generally includes a barrel 10 with a nose portion 11 connected to a front end thereof and a magazine 13 is connected to the barrel 10 so as to provide nails 130 into the path 110 in the nose portion 11 by a push plate 14. A handle 101 is connected to the barrel 10 and a valve 15 is located at the handle 101 and a trigger 12 is pivotably connected to the barrel 10. The valve 15 includes a shaft 150 which can be pushed by an activation plate 120 cooperated with the trigger 12. A safety link 16 is located parallel to the nose portion 11 and a spring 17 is connected between the safety link 16 and the barrel 10 so as to protrude the front end of the safety link 16 beyond the nose portion 11. The rear end of the safety link 16 is connected to the free end of the activation plate 120 so that when the front end of the safety link 16 is pushed against the object 2 to be nailed, the activation plate 120 is pivoted an angle and located close to the shaft 150 of the valve 15. The trigger 12 is then pulled so that the activation plate 120 pushes the shaft 150 to seal the passage of pressurized air to force the nail 130 into the object 2. However, the front end of the safety link 16 interrupts the aiming of the user so that the user can only roughly aim the nail 130 and cannot precisely nail the nail 130 at the desired spot on the object 2. This disadvantage is more obvious if the desired spot is located in a recess in the object 2.

The present invention intends to provide a safety link for a pneumatic nailer wherein the front end of the safety link does not protrude beyond the nose portion of the nailer so that the user can clearly see the position of the nose portion and make a perfect aiming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a pneumatic nailer that comprises a barrel having a nose portion connected to a front end thereof and a path is defined through the nose portion. A magazine is connected to the barrel to feed nails into the path. A handle is connected to the barrel and a valve is received in the handle. The valve has a movable shaft and a first spring is mounted to the shaft. A trigger is connected to the barrel and an end of the movable shaft is in contact with a mediate portion of the trigger. A safety link is movably connected to the barrel and located parallel to the nose portion. The safety link has a front end located shorter than the nose portion and a rear end of the safety link is pivotably connected to a first end of the trigger. The first end of the trigger is movable toward the nose portion relative to the end of the movable shaft to extend the front end of the safety link. A second spring biases the safety link in a direction that the safety link linearly moves. The first spring has a spring power larger than that of the second spring.

The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a conventional safety link on a pneumatic nailer;

FIG. 2 shows that the conventional safety link is pushed against the object to be nailed;

FIG. 3 shows that a nail is nailed into the object by pulling the trigger of the conventional pneumatic nailer;

FIG. 4 shows the safety link and the pneumatic nailer of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows the pneumatic nailer aims a desired spot;

FIG. 6 shows that the front end of the safety link is moved to contact the object to be nailed by pulling the trigger;

FIG. 7 shows that a nail is nailed into the object by continuously pulling the trigger;

FIG. 8 shows that the valve is not activated by pulling the trigger if the nose portion is not pushed against the object to be nailed first;

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the spring for the safety link, and

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the nailer of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 4, the pneumatic nailer of the present invention comprises a barrel 3 having a nose portion 4 connected to a front end thereof and a path 40 is defined through the nose portion 4. A magazine 7 is connected to the barrel 3 and has a push plate 71 which pushes the nails 75 in the magazine 7 into the path 40.

A handle 30 is connected to the barrel 3 and a valve 35 is received in the handle 30. The valve 35 has a movable shaft 350 and a first spring 8 is mounted to the shaft 350. The movable shaft 350 controls the passages defined in the handle 30 so as to guide the pressured air into the barrel 30 to push an ejection plate as shown in FIG. 7 to push one nail 75 in the path 40 out from the nose portion 4. A trigger 5 is connected to the barrel 3 and an end of the movable shaft 350 is in contact with a mediate portion of the trigger 5.

A safety link 6 is movably connected to the barrel 3 and located parallel to the nose portion 4. The safety link 6 has a front end located shorter than the nose portion 4 so that the front end of the safety link 6 does not protrude beyond the nose portion 4. A rear end of the safety link 6 is pivotably connected to a first end of the trigger 5 and the user may pull a second end of the trigger 5 to activate the valve 35. A second spring 8 biases the safety link 6 in a direction that the safety link 6 linearly moves. There are many ways to install the second spring 8, the first one is that the nose portion 4 has a protrusion 41 extending therefrom and the safety link 6 includes a stepped portion 60, the second spring 8 is biased between the protrusion 41 and the stepped portion 60. The second way is that the barrel 3 includes a ring 31 extending therefrom and the rear end of the safety link 6 movably extends through the ring 31, the second spring 8 is biased between the ring 31 and the trigger 5. The third way is that the second spring 8 is biased between an inside of the trigger 5 and an outside of the handle 30. In this embodiment, there are three second springs installed by all the three ways on the pneumatic nailer. It is noted that the first spring 8 has a spring power larger than that of the second spring 8.

When using the pneumatic nailer, as shown in FIG. 5, because the front end of the safety link 6 is shorter than the nose portion 4 so that the user can see the front end of the nose portion 4 clearly and aim the nose portion 4 the desired spot which is a recess 90 of an object 9 in this embodiment. The nose portion 4 is then pushed against the object 9 and the trigger 5 is pulled at the second end thereof of the first stage of pulling by the user. As shown in FIG. 6, the first stage of pulling of the trigger 5 moves the first end of the trigger 5 toward the nose portion 4 relative to the end of the movable shaft 350. Because the first spring 8 is powerful than the second spring 8, and the movable shaft 350 is pushed by the pressurized air so that the user feels an obvious and sufficient resistance in the first stage of pull. As shown in FIG. 7, the user applies an extra force to overcome the resistance to pull the trigger 5 and goes through the second stage of the pulling, the front end of the safety link 6 is moved to push against the object 9 and the movable shaft 350 is pushed inward by the trigger 5 and the valve 35 is activate to move the ejection plate to push a nail 75 out from the nose portion 4 and into the object 9.

As shown in FIG. 8, if the trigger 5 is pulled before the nose portion 4 is pushed against the object 9, the force applies to the trigger 5 moves the first end of the trigger 5 to compress the second spring 8 and the movable shaft 350 cannot be pushed inward because the force is transferred into the movement of the first end of the trigger 5. By this way, the pneumatic nailer can be operated safely.

As shown in FIG. 9, the second spring 8 can also be a coil spring which can be extended when pulling the trigger 5. As shown in FIG. 10, the spring 8 is connected between the shaft 350 of the valve 35 and the handle 30, and the spring 8 is in a compressed status. The shaft 350 is connected to an inside of the trigger 5 and an end of the trigger 5 is pivotably connected to the safety link 6.

It is noted that the nose portion 4, the safety link 6 and the trigger 5 can be a single piece or composed of a plurality of pieces. The spring 8 can be an extendable spring, a compressible spring, a spring plate, a plastic plate, a fiber member, a rubber member and a foam member.

While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 

1. A pneumatic nailer comprising: a safety link connected to a barrel or nose portion and movable along the nose portion, the safety link being biased by a spring and toward the barrel when a trigger is not yet pulled, the safety link being moved toward an object to be nailed when the trigger is pulled so as to eject a nail out from the nose portion.
 2. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is directly connected between a top surface of the safety link and an outer periphery of the barrel, the spring is in an extended status.
 3. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is connected between an inside of the safety link and an outer periphery of the barrel, the spring is in a compressed status.
 4. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is connected between an inside of the trigger and an outer periphery of the barrel or a valve in the handle, an end of the trigger is pivotably connected to the safety link so that the spring is indirectly applied a force to move the safety link toward the barrel, when the trigger is pulled, the safety link is moved toward the object to be nailed.
 5. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is connected between a shaft of the valve and the handle, the spring is in a compressed status, the shaft is connected to an inside of the trigger and an end of the trigger is pivotably connected to the safety link so that the spring is indirectly applied a force to move the safety link toward the barrel, when the trigger is pulled, the safety link is moved toward the object to be nailed.
 6. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is connected between a flange extending from the barrel and the trigger, the spring is in a compressed status, the trigger is connected to the safety link so that the spring is applied a force to move the safety link toward the barrel, when the trigger is pulled, the safety link is moved toward the object to be nailed.
 7. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring is connected between a flange extending from the barrel and an inside of the safety link, the spring is in a compressed status, so that the spring is applied a force to move the safety link toward the barrel, when the trigger is pulled, the safety link is moved toward the object to be nailed.
 8. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the safety link is a single piece.
 9. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the safety link is composed of a plurality of pieces.
 10. The nailer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring can be an extendable spring, a compressible spring, a spring plate, a plastic plate, a fiber member, a rubber member and a foam member.
 11. The nailer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the nose portion is a single piece.
 12. The nailer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the nose portion is composed of a plurality of pieces.
 13. The nailer as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein the safety link is not connected to the trigger.
 14. The nailer as claimed in claim 4 or 5, wherein the trigger is a single piece.
 15. The nailer as claimed in claim 4 or 5, wherein the trigger is composed of a plurality of pieces. 